New beginnings

“Behold, I make all things new.” Rev 21:5 (KJV)

NEW BEGINNINGS

NO CURSE FOR CHRISTIANS

Jesus was cursed in our place.

Gal 3:13 Christ paid the price to free us from the curse that God’s laws bring by becoming cursed instead of us. Scripture says, “Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.” (GOD’S WORD® Translation)

A NEW BEGINNING

When you are a Christian, your past does not dictate your future. Neither do the sins of your family. You are a new creation in Christ:

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Jesus gives abundant life, not a life with residual curses from the past.

John 10:10 “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Jesus said, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36).

Psalm 103:12 says that “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us”. The east and west never meet – they are infinitely far apart.

Your enemies might remember your past mistakes, but God has forgiven and forgotten them.

Curses associated with a family no longer apply to a Christian – they have been adopted into God’s family.

So if anyone tries to remind of your past sins or the past failures of your family – remind them that you have a new Father in heaven – and have been adopted into a new family.

Rom 8:15 (NASB) For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

Don’t look back! Remember Lot’s wife

God says, “I want to give you a fresh start, a new beginning.” This is a major element of our Christian faith – starting afresh and having a new beginning with God.

Christians don’t need to dwell on former failures

Isaiah 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

Rom 8:1-2 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Do not live in condemnation from past sins and mistakes

Don’t even get caught up by your past success

Phil 3:13-14 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

It is customary to think of the beginning of a new year as the time to start over, and to make new resolutions. According to TIME, the Top 10 commonly broken New Year’s resolutions are:

Lose weight and get fit

Quit smoking

Learn something new

Eat healthier and diet

Get out of debt and save money

Spend more time with family

Travel to new places

Be less stressed

Volunteer

Drink less

BE A BLESSING

But you can have a new beginning any time you want to. Here are a few resolutions that Christians could make.

Instead of looking for blessings; be a blessing to others.

Zech 8:13 “… I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.”

GIVE MORE

Acts 20:35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

BE MORE HOSPITABLE

Rom 12:13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

1 Pet 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Heb 13:2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Isaiah 58:7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

COMPLAIN LESS

Thank God for dirty dishes. At least you have food.

Phil 2:14-15 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.

“I complained because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet” ~ Helen Keller

Helen Keller (1880—1968) was an American author and educator who was blind and deaf.

BE MORE THANKFUL

1 Thess 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

“When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.” ~ Tecumseh

Luke 17:15-18 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him… Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?”

HAVE A RIGHT SPIRIT

Ask God to give you a right spirit.

Ezek 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

Ps 51:10 (ESV) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Effort is also required. You need to do your part in getting a new attitude.

Eph 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

FORGIVE MORE

“It’s better to be the one who smiled, than the one who didn’t smile back.” ~ Mari Gayatri Stein (author, artist, and cartoonist)

Resolve to forgive those who have wronged you and to release them from their debt.

Matt 6:12-15 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors… For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH

We need to experience the reality of what we preach to others – in our own lives.

Those who teach by their doctrine must teach by their life, or else they pull down with one hand what they build up with the other. ~ Matthew Henry

2 Cor 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?

If whatever men know comes through their brain without the Holy Spirit regenerating their spirit, then their knowledge will help them not one whit. If their belief rests in man’s wisdom and not in God's power, they are merely excited in their soul. ~ Watchman Nee

STUDY MORE

Resolve to study God’s Word more.

2 Tim 2:15 Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The Psalmist wrote, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Ps 119:11)

“A man stood up in one of our meetings and said he hoped for enough out of the series of meetings to last him all his life. I told him he might as well try to eat enough breakfast at one time to last him his lifetime.

“That is a mistake that people are making; they are running to religious meetings and they think the meetings are going to do the work. But if these don’t bring you into closer contact with the Word of God, the whole impression will be gone in three months.”  ~ D.L. Moody

In his best selling book “Into Thin Air,” Jon Krakauer relates the hazards facing some climbers attempting to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Andy Harris, one of the expedition leaders stayed at the peak too long and on his descent, he became in dire need of oxygen. Harris radioed the base camp and told them about his predicament.

He mentioned that he had come across a cache of oxygen canisters left by the other climbers but they were all empty. The climbers who already passed the canisters on their own descent knew they were not empty, but full.

They pleaded with him on the radio to make use of them but it was to no avail. Harris was starved for oxygen but he continued to argue that the canisters were empty.

The problem was that the lack of what he needed had so disoriented his mind that though he was surrounded by something that would give him life, he continued to complain of its absence. The lack of oxygen had ravaged his capacity to recognize what was right in front of him.

What oxygen is to the body, the Word of God is to the soul. Some of us are suffocating and starving and we don’t even know it. Jesus is offering life to us while we run around trying to appease our appetites. We will never be filled until we take of the Bread of life - Jesus Christ.

What you need to change your life is in your hands – the Word of God.

“What we need as Christians is to be able to feed ourselves. How many there are who sit helpless and listless, with open mouths, hungry for spiritual things, and the minister has to try to feed them, while the Bible is a feast prepared, into which they never venture.” ~ D.L. Moody

Remember that Jesus used Scripture to defeat the tempter.

“The more you love the Scriptures, the firmer will be your faith. There is little backsliding when people love the Scriptures.” ~ D.L. Moody

Not until we have become humble and teachable, standing in awe of God's holiness and sovereignty... acknowledging our own littleness, distrusting our own thoughts, and willing to have our minds turned upside down, can divine wisdom become ours. ~ J. I. Packer

Prov 13:18 Whoever disregards discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honoured.

“Don’t cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.” ~ Aubrey De Graf

BE MORE TEACHABLE

John Wesley (on being teachable): “When I was young I was sure of everything; in a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before; at present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to me.”

“We are always open to instruction, willing to be wiser every day than we were before, and to change whatever we can change for the better.”

“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” ~ Meister Eckhart

Acts 8:30-31 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

A deep sense of sin, a humble willingness to be saved in God's way, a teachable readiness to give up our own prejudices when a more excellent way is shown, these are the principal things. These things the two disciples possessed, and therefore our Lord "went with them" and guided them into all truth. ~ J. C. Ryle

Education is going from an unconscious to conscious awareness of one's ignorance.

Make me like a little child, Simple, teachable, and mild ~ John Berridge

Prov 9:9 Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.

It is a mistake for anyone to think he has lived too long in his old, unsatisfactory ways to make the great change. If you switch on the light in a dark room, it makes no difference how long it was dark because the light will still shine. Be teachable. That is the whole secret. ~ Vernon Howard

LISTEN MORE

And to be teachable you need to learn to listen.

James 1:19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…

When conversing, don’t just wait for another person to finish speaking, so that you can carry on where you left off – Listen!

Listen more than you talk. Nobody learned anything by hearing themselves speak. ~ Richard Branson

PRAY MORE

Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

1 Thess 5:16-17 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing…

Don’t only pray when you have a problem.

Take time to reflect on what God has done for you.

1 Chron 16:11-12 “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced…”

If you don’t want to burn out, remember to wait on God.

Isaiah 40:30-31 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

FELLOWSHIP MORE

Resolve to be faithful in fellowship.

Heb 10:25 (NLT) And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

WITNESS MORE

1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect

Share your faith - even if it means ridicule.

Matt 5:11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

A show on The History Channel entitled, “The Man Who Predicted 911,” focused on a man named Rick Rescorla.

Years earlier Rescorla was decorated for his battlefield bravery in Vietnam, but by 2001 was the head of security at the Morgan Stanley Bank.

Bruce Ferris relates: “The bank’s offices were situated high up in the South Tower at the World Trade Center.

Rescorla was convinced that Osama Bin Laden would use jet planes to try and destroy the World Trade Center.

Long before Sep 11th, the 62-year-old developed an evacuation plan for the bank.

The plan and its preparation were hugely unpopular with the Morgan Stanley staff, many of whom thought Rescorla was mad.

On 11 Sep 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 hit World Trade Center Tower 1 at 8:46 am.

Rescorla ignored building officials’ advice to stay put and began the orderly evacuation of Morgan Stanley’s 2,800 employees on 20 floors of Tower 2, and 1,000 employees in WTC 5.

He reminded everyone to “be proud to be an American”… and sang God Bless America and other songs over his bullhorn to help evacuees stay calm as they left the building.

He had most of Morgan Stanley’s 2800 employees as well as people working on other floors of WTC 2 safely out of the buildings by the time United Airlines Flight 175 hit WTC 2 at 9:07 am.

After having reached safety, Rescorla returned to the building. Determined to get every employee out - like he did on the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 - Rescorla and two assistants went back to look for them, never to return.

He was last seen on the 10th floor of the burning tower. His remains were not recovered. As a result of Rescorla’s actions, only 6 of Morgan Stanley’s 2800 WTC employees were killed, including Rick and three of his deputies who followed him back into the building.

Rick left behind a widow, Susan Rescorla, and two children. The remainder of this very moving broadcast focused on Morgan Stanley Bank employees who now in tears were praising and acknowledging Rick Rescorla for saving their lives from total destruction that day.

They said that Rick was their hero and that they would never forget him. Many felt guilty that they had thought him foolish to keep preaching and standing for what he believed would happen if they were not ready.

A memorial stone was erected in Rick’s hometown of Hayle, Cornwall, to commemorate his life and the sacrifice he made to save others.

There is a statue of Rick Rescorla at The Walk Of Honor at the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia.

We need to have a “Rick Rescorla” attitude. He was convinced people entrusted to his care would perish if his plan of escape was ignored. He persevered even when his actions made him unpopular and the object of ridicule, because he firmly believed what he was doing would save lives. He ultimately gave his life for what he believed in.

Unlike Rick Rescorla, many Christians today have an attitude like Cain when it comes to rescuing the lost. By their actions (or lack thereof) they say: “Am I my brother’s keeper.”

James 5:19-20 “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

BE MORE ACTIVE

Be active. Give no place to indolence or sloth. Give no occasion for anyone to say, “You are idle.” ~ John Wesley

Heb 6:12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

Eph 5:16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

QUIT MAKING EXCUSES

for not doing what you should.

People who are good at making excuses are rarely good at anything else. They spend their time and energy thinking up reasons why they can’t do what they are supposed to do.

“If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.” ~ Ryan Blair (entrepreneur and author)

for your mistakes and sins.

Take responsibility for your actions. Admit when it’s your fault, ask for forgiveness and get on with life.

because of fear of failure.

QUIT MAKING EXCUSES

DON’T BE AFRAID OF FAILURE

Lack of faith and the fear of failure impoverish us.

“Our doubts are traitors, and they make us lose what we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” ~ Shakespeare

Some say risk nothing, try only for the sure thing, Others say nothing gambled nothing gained, Go all out for your dream. Life can be lived either way, but for me, I’d rather try and fail, Than never try at all, you see.

Some say “Don’t ever fall in love, Play the game of life wide open, Burn your candle at both ends.” But I say “No! It’s better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all, my friend.”

~ William F. O’Brien

I’d rather have a life of “oh wells” than “what ifs”. ~ Kay Lee Ray (professional wrestler)

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” ~ Wayne Gretzky (Canadian ice hockey player)

“Small minds can’t comprehend big spirits. To be great, you have to be willing to be mocked, hated, and misunderstood.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt (wife of US president, FDR)

Matt 9:29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”

Mark 9:23 “If you can?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

New beginnings come to those who step out in faith.

God is able to make your plans succeed

Ps 20:4 May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

But make sure your plans are in line with God’s will

Ps 106:15 (KJV) And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.” ~ Francis Chan

Prov 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Prov 16:3 (ESV) Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.

“Some people think God does not like to be troubled with our constant coming and asking. The way to trouble God is not to come at all.” ~ D.L. Moody

So commit your plans to God

Sometimes our faith is limited by what we have experienced in the past. But God can use you to do a new thing.

“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” ~ William Carey (the “father of modern missions”)

Trust God for the impossible.

Hab 1:5 “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

But you need to start where you’re at.

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. ~ Francis of Assisi

Make good use of your time.

Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Isaiah 54:1-4 “Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labour; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD.

“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.

“For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.

“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated…”

BE FOCUSED

Prov 4:25 (NIV) Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.

Phil 3:13-14 … Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

NEVER GIVE UP

Gal 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

D-L Moody wrote: “No matter how great the work, how mighty the undertaking; no matter how many difficulties had to be encountered, when they were sent from God they were sure to succeed.

“God sent Moses down to Egypt to bring 3,000,000 people out of bondage. The idea would have seemed absurd to most people. 

 “Fancy a man with an impediment in his speech, without an army, without generals, with no record, bringing 3,000,000 people from the power of a great nation like that of the Egyptians.

“But God sent him, and what was the result? Pharaoh said they should not go, and the great king and all his army were going to prevent them.

“But did he succeed? God sent Moses and he didn’t fail.”

Remember your reward may not be on earth

Matt 19:27-29 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “… everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

Rom 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

AUTHOR: Gavin Paynter

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Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the NIV: THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV: Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.